.

Dylan, Mellencamp Booked For White House's Civil Rights Music Celebration

January 26, 2010 12:00 AM ET

Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, Jennifer Hudson, Smokey Robinson and John Legend will perform at "In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement," which airs on PBS on February 11th. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle will host the Black History Month special from the White House's East Room. Morgan Freeman and Queen Latifah will emcee the event, which will also feature performances by Seal, Natalie Cole, the Blind Boys of Alabama and more artists to be announced soon.

Past "In Performance at the White House" specials have featured Aretha Franklin, Merle Haggard and Stevie Wonder, President Obama's "musical hero" and the first to be honored by an "In Performance" during Obama's presidency. As Rolling Stone reported last month, President Obama was on hand to witness the Kennedy Center Honors' tribute to Bruce Springsteen. Eddie Vedder, Sting, Melissa Etheridge and Ben Harper all performed E Street classics at the Kennedy Honors.

Related Stories:
Bruce Springsteen Honored at Kennedy Center By Mellencamp, Vedder, Sting
Eddie Vedder, Jon Stewart Pay Tribute to Bruce Springsteen at the Kennedy Center Honors
Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind And Fire to Rock the White House

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

prev
Music Main Next

blog comments powered by Disqus
Daily Newsletter

Get the latest RS news in your inbox.

Sign up to receive the Rolling Stone newsletter and special offers from RS and its
marketing partners.

X

We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners. For more information please read our Privacy Policy.

Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »